NEW ORLEANS – Damian Lillard didn't enter all three NBA All-Star skills competitions just for the fun of it.

"If I didn't think I had a chance to win all of them, I wouldn't put my name in them," Lillard said. "But I really feel strong about the 3-point shootout."

The Portland guard is the reigning champion of the skills competition, which will take place Saturday night, along with the 3-point shooting contest and the dunk contest. This year, though, Lillard sees the tandem of the Phoenix's Goran Dragic and Oklahoma City's Reggie Jackson as potential favorites.

Four two-man teams will compete in the skills challenge, going through the course in a relay format with a single time. The competition consists of dribbling around obstacles, passing to targets as well as hitting close and mid-range shots.

As well as Dragic has played this season, averaging 20.3 points, 6.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game, Lillard said the Suns guard should have been on the Western Conference roster for Sunday night's main event.

If Lillard had to pick a favorite other than himself to win the 3-point shooting contest, he said it would be Golden State's Stephen Curry, who has made 41.5 percent of his shots from 3-point range and whose 3.4 3-pointers made per game leads the league.

As for the dunk contest, which this season will be a competition between conferences, Lillard expects his Western Conference team that includes Golden State's Harrison Barnes and Sacramento's Ben McLemore to come out on top. The East's dunk squad consists of Indiana's Paul George, Toronto's Terrence Ross and Washington's John Wall.

Lillard also agreed to participate in Friday night's future stars game, meaning the All-Star game itself will have been his fifth event of the weekend. In other words, he won't be giving his body much of a rest during the All-Star break.

Hometown pride for Davis

Former NBA player and coach Avery Johnson is a New Orleans native, and said he was relieved the Benson family, which owns the NFL's Saints, also decided to add the city's financially struggling NBA franchise to their portfolio in 2012, securing the Big Easy's future as an NBA city and allowing the All-Star game to return for the second time in six years.

"It's a great beacon of light to have two major sports franchises here in New Orleans, and now to have the NBA All-Star game return here," Johnson said.

This year, the usual All-Star Friday media availability with every player participating in the All-Star game, future stars game or skills competitions was held in the Hyatt Hotel neighboring the city's sports complex that includes the Superdome and the basketball stadium (now called Smoothie King Center).

During the 2008 All-Star game in New Orleans, the Hyatt was still a few years away from reopening after many of its floor-to-ceiling windows had been blown out by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

Melo rules out trade

Carmelo Anthony said Friday he knows "for a fact" the Knicks won't trade him, and said he would be open to staying in New York for less than a maximum contract.

Anthony has said he plans to become a free agent this summer. The NBA's trade deadline is Thursday, but Anthony ruled out any chance the Knicks would move him to avoid the possibility they could lose him for nothing in July.

"I know for a fact I'm not being traded," Anthony said at the NBA's All-Star weekend. "There's two things: I know for a fact I'm not being traded and I'm not going in there and saying I want to be traded."